Worse, Athlons are probably the most power-hungery CPU ever.

You sure about that?

Thank you. I was going to beat him about the head for that. P4's have been running hotter (and thus using more power) than Athlon XPs, much less Athlon 64s, for quite some time.

The crap about Athlons running so hot started because they were running hotter than P3s (not P4s) and they didn't have a thermal limiter diode (remedied in the XP), so they wouldn't self-limit/turn off if they were running too hot.

Oh... and I'm running an Athlon64 3000+, 1G RAM, GF 6800GT, hard drive, and DVD+/-RW drive all on a 300W PSU. It used to be that you had to be careful about the 12V line, but I haven't seen a PSU made in the past 2-3 years that didn't have adequate power on all three rails.

Edit: On the other hand, my server which has 4-5 HDs, runs a 500W PSU. Could get by with less, but wanted expansion capacity. It has a monster 12V line though -- 25A.
This comment was edited on Nov 18, 09:33.

Good enough for ya?

yep... and here i thought you were going to have me alter some .cfg file or something!

btw, it's great having you and Sixis around to edumacate us technically inferior beings... i really appreciate all the advice and knowledge folks like you to take the time to share with the rest of us!

Worse, Athlons are probably the most power-hungery CPU ever.

You sure about that?

http://techreport.com/reviews/2004q4/athlon64-fx55/index.x?pg=15

You cannot make anything fool-proof. The fools are too inventive

Thanks everyone for your info on the probably dead PSU. In the end, that was the problem and I got her a snazzy new one and Half Life 2 is once again roaring before my eyes!

I've been playing for the last 40 minutes wearing my new HL2 cap... and, I've got to say, whilst very cool to look at... there's no real performance increase to be found in wearing it;P My better half suggested I look like a dickhead sitting at the pc with a cap on... she's probably right... But way to go with them getting it out here so fast:P Oh, and I'd like to bitch and moan about the confirmation email I'm still waiting for to say my gold pack has been sent... Can't win them all, Valve!

My computer's clock is going screwy. I dont think it's only the battery, as it does it when it's switched on. It often adds 10-15 minutes every so often which is annoying. Anyone got an idea as to why? I'm sick of thinking Im late for stuff :). Or if I have to stop playing HL2 10 minutes early.

______________________
My name's Elliot, and I'm with the Cub Scouts of America. We're... we're selling uncut cocaine to get to the jamboree. -True Romance

Your computer does not use 400w. Not even with a fancy new video card, playing HL2 running CPU and Video card and full load.

I can vouch for this. I have a Shuttle XPC small form factor that uses a 200w power supply that powers an OC'd Radeon 9800, a P4 2.8ghz CPU, 2 hard drives and assorted cooling fans. Works fine

----------------------------------------------------------------------
What Would Fred Do?

Stop calling him Gman and call him BLUE.

Thanks

Following the OTB link here a couple weeks ago, I tried to find out who the heck is Charles E. Hurwitz and if, besides timber, he is also among the corporations profiting from the war in Iraq. http://www.foogle.com/ask.php?id=148474
I just wanted to let anyone else know in case they were waiting for responses. I don't think they do. Thats part of why it's supposed to be funny or something.

----
What Will Save Us
The restoration to the cow Of her dignity.
The restoration to the pig Of his intelligence.
The restoration to the child Of her sacredness.
The restoration to the woman Of her will.
The restoration to the man Of his tenderness.

backward, and my view can go left and right (but I can't turn)

Vehicle turning is the Strafe keys. So you'd have to bind your gamepad to use whatever keys you use onto your gamepad.

----------------------------------------------------
Zero Tolerance Games Counter-Strike: Source server.
http://www.ztgames.com

indiv-

There is no good way to use either a joystick or a gamepad, unless you have software for them that can emulate the keyboard. If you have such software (Gravis, Logitech, and MS hardware often come with it) you could use it to permenantly bind the gamepad buttons to keyboard keys, which would allow you to use them like the keyboard in the game. Then you could use the stick with joystick look enabled to look around, and buttons on the gamepad to move and shoot. Not the best solution, but that's as good as I can figure.

Come on, be a man, use the mouse!

I'm not done with the game yet, just entered Highway 17 or whatever...

Did anyone notice the newspaper clippings at the old BM base that said, "Earth Surrenders" and other stuff like that? Indicating the Earth was invaded? Theyre up on a tackboard right by the teleporter, I think. There are some pretty serious oppressive overtones (ala WW2 Germany) threaded throughout the plot so far.

Anyone know how to get a gamepad to work with the vehicles? I clicked "enable joystick" in the menu and my gamepad can make the vehicle go forward, backward, and my view can go left and right (but I can't turn). Nor do the buttons do anything. So does Half-Life 2 have native gamepad support or can I do anything to get my gamepad to emulate a joystick?

I'd read the manual, but then Warpig would yell at me.

Perhaps someone can explain to me the ending? What is supposed to be happening? I do not remember much of the story and G-man from Half Life, so perhaps someone could fell me in. And please use secret tag!

I just finished it as well.

SST: I don't think we're supposed to understand what's going on. The G-Man made some remark about how he'd give an explanation later on. My guess is that either Half-Life 3 or an expansion pack will give us some answers.

As far as Half-Life 1 goes, the pertinent information is as follows: The Lambda team has been conducting teleporter research and has discovered the border world Xen. A sample brought back from Xen is taken to the Anomalous Materials Laboratory for analysis. The sample sets off a chain reaction that opens a rift between Xen and Earth. The Xen aliens invade. The military is sent in to contain the situation but are quickly overwhelmed and pull out. Throughout this Gordon Freeman fights his way to the Lambda labs where he is teleported to Xen. There he defeats the master of the Xen race. Xen is brought under the control of the organization that the G-Man works for. Gordan is offered an opportunity to work for that organization.

Power supplies are the least understood part of a gaming rig, let me try and explain when power problems typically arise. Power supplies have a number of voltages they can produce for, and different components use different voltages. However, Vid cards and CPUs share the 5v channel. And some of the video cards (especially some of the Nvidia ones with insane cooling solutions, but even ATI's midrange stuff) use a lot of power. Worse, Athlons are probably the most power-hungery CPU ever. So, combine a power supply that doesn't send out much at 5v with a high-powered vid card and an athlon and power will become an issue real quick. Software never makes any difference (ie. no game needs any more power than any other game).

To see how much power you have at 5v, look at the sticker on your power supply, it should say. I have a mid-range 450w supply, it does 32 amps at 5v, which is sufficient for my system with both an Athlon and a ATI 9800 pro. OTOH, my old power supply only delivers 25 amps at 5v. It would boot up for a while, then die, then it wouldn't turn on until I unplugged it from the wall.

Total wattage doesn't mean much for gamers (servers need lots of power though), but you it's easier to find a supply with high amps at 5v among the high wattage supplies.

Hope that made some sense...

LOL:)

Thanks Enahs

My old pc uses AMD but not the SATA drives and I used only a 300w PSU with that one. Is this going to really hurt anything if I just try it briefly

Your computer does not use 400w. Not even with a fancy new video card, playing HL2 running CPU and Video card and full load.


Now if you where doing all that while spinning a couple disc devices (CD/DVD), MAYBE.

Really the main people who need all that are people with RAID settings, with 2-4 hard drives acting as one single drive and also doing video editing/copying from DVD ect at same time, with high CPU load. ect.


It will be more than fine to use to test. You might just leave it in for longer than you expect

*edit*
Assuming the old PSU had the new additional/secondary CPU power connector new MB’s need.


_____
Enahs
That’s a deep kiss too, like the Europeans. You know the French they have to unhinge their jaw to show love.
This comment was edited on Nov 17, 23:06.

maybe Enahs can explain to me how to config the drivers to force AA??!??

Right click on your desktop, select NVIDIA analog display (if you are using CRT monitor) or NVIDIA digital display (if you are using LCD). You will only have one option, unless you are running dual screen.

On that new display, on the left floating tab hit “Performance and Quality”
Then in settings click Antialiasing settings, uncheck “Application-Controlled” and then select it.
Rinse and repeat for anisotropic filtering.

There is also a “image settings” there with a slide bar with 4 options for quality to performance.


While you are at it hit the “show advanced” button. You can then turn on Trilinear and anisotropic optimization. I recommend them, since the different is SO little but you get a decent performance boost.

Note: At the image settings the highest quality and the next to highest are the exact same except the highest forced trilinear and anisotropic optimizations off.


This method is sometimes better, because as you will see in the AA and AF sidebars, example: you get some 2x and 2xQ, 2xQ looks more like 4x than 2x but closer to the 2x speed hit. It would best be called 3x but that is not technically accurate, ect.


Also, the Question mark button near the close button at the top right is damn good. Just click it and then click it on anything and you will get LOTS of information usually. Use it and have fun tweaking and seeing HL2 with AA and AF actually on!



Good enough for ya?

_____
Enahs
That’s a deep kiss too, like the Europeans. You know the French they have to unhinge their jaw to show love.

Common sense just hit me....

I can swap the powersupplies around.... but I have one minor question?

When I built this, I got a 400w PSU because I read somewhere it was needed for AMD and SATA drives. My old pc uses AMD but not the SATA drives and I used only a 300w PSU with that one. Is this going to really hurt anything if I just try it briefly?

I just now finished Half-Life 2. It's a great game and all. I also enjoyed Doom 3 (but less, and I'm an id fanboy). BUT. Honestly. The game in this genre that I've had the most FUN playing is Far Cry. Far Cry is less linear -- in HL2 and Doom3 there's always exactly one path to take, one direction to turn, etc. Far Cry lets you choose a few paths (around 3) from point A to B (like do it on land, take a boat, go around, etc). And the outdoor tromps and sniping make it totally solid.

Fun factor:
Gold: Far Cry
Silver: Half Life 2
Bronze: Doom 3

Thanks Enahs:)

All the wire and plugs are fine. That was my first port of call then I found it dead.

When I came back, the screens were blank but the tower button was still lit. I tried on and off with the screens but no joy. Then I held the tower button in to force it to shut off and since then it won't start up.

Powersupply appears dead as in the fan is still. Same with the Videocard and CPU fans. I have a Asus A7N8X-E m/board and that has a little green power light and that is on. But everything else is dead. Electricity is not my thing, but I'm wondering if the power supply can/does let power bleed through to keep that light on? I've been looking in my old pc and it has a similar board and even when switched off, that m/board light remains on. I'd like to know that's the case, since I can just go buy a new one and replace it myself without having to lug this thing back to the store.... and not have to suffer having lost my HL2 saves:(